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Remembering one of the local 'Boys of Summer'
Boys might not be a totally accurate description when we see professional ballplayers today continuing to play well into their 30s and 40s. As a matter of fact, just last month 83year-old Jim Eriotes was the lead off hitter for the Sioux Falls Canaries in a game against the St. Louis Blacksnakes, making him the oldest man to ever play professional baseball. Never mind that he only got to bat once and struck out. Only a week after the above mentioned event occurred, that record was also broken when 94-year-old John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil was the lead off batter for the West in the first inning of the Northern League All-Star Game. He was intentionally walked. After the top of the inning, he was signed to a oneday contract to play for the opposing team the Kansas City T-Bones. Again, he was the lead off batter and was intentionally walked.
Most professional players in the early days retired from the game and went home with little money and no pension. They simply went home, found a job and got on with their lives. Jackson was the home for many years of two such players. Jimmy "Runt" Outlaw, who just recently passed away, was wellknown in this area. The highlight of his career was playing third base in every inning of the seven-game 1945 World Series as a member of the Detroit Tigers ball club. Coincidentally, one of the pitchers for the opposition Chicago Cubs was Raymond "Pop" Prim who was from Salitpa. Outlaw and Prim were classmates at Jackson High School, where Raymond played ball, but Jimmy didn't, because he was considered too short.
His name was Stewart O'Neal Bolen, but almost everyone called him "Lefty" for obvious reasons. He was so left-handed that he could hardly scratch his nose with his right hand. He was a pitcher, and I am proud to say that he was also my uncle. I would like to tell you a little about his ball playing days and also about his life after baseball. Lefty's baseball career spanned a period of 16 years from 1923 until 1939. During that time he played for several teams in various leagues beginning with Mobile, then on to Ft. Bayard, New Mexico, Tulsa, St. Louis, Buffalo, Baltimore, Philadelphia (Athletics and Phillies), Indianapolis, Mission and Hollywood in California, and finishing with Chattanooga.
One of the photos is framed in an unusual way. It is a team picture of the 1925 Tulsa Oilers and is mounted on a piece of plywood cutout in the form of a shield. The photo itself, is bordered with cotton string and the entire frame has some sort of textured finish applied to it. Lefty must have made a hobby of making and selling these pictures to his teammates as a a way of picking up some extra money. A picture made in Baltimore several years later shows him in the Orioles' dressing room sitting at a table making several of these unique items.
The first story written by Bill Dooly appeared in the Philadelphia Record in January of 193l: "Stewart Bolen, a left-handed gentleman of rare courage, joins the Phillies' corps of pitching hopefuls this year. Star portsider of the International League race of 1930, Bolen is coming up for his fourth trial in the majors. The last opportunity he received was with the Athletics (Philadelphia) in the spring of 1929. "Given his first trials by the St. Louis Browns, who traded him to the Baltimore Orioles in 1928, Bolen won 19 games against nine defeats last season. The Phillies acquired him at the annual draft meeting held here in October.
"A workhorse is the term that best describes the huge, goodnatured pitcher whose home is in sunny Alabam'. Yet his most distinguishing trait is his unflagging courage, his spirit in the face of discouragement and rebuffs. "It is this, more than the ability of his bulky frame to shoulder heavy work, that is bringing Lefty back to the big league at the age of 28. Bringing him back, too, with more than an even chance of remaining.. "In the general surprise occasioned by the Phils passing up Unser Joe Hauser to draft Bolen, it is certain none was more astounded than the pitcher himself. It was almost more than the Alabamian hoped for, though it was the goal that kept him in the game.
"But once he is poised on the mound Bolen becomes an artist. He pitches coolly an unhurried., with an insolennce that aggravates any hitter that might be a bit impatient. Years of batting around in the minors have cured Bolen of whatever nervousness he may once have had. "Lefty's school of hard knocks in the national pastime opened for him in 1923 when he signed with the Mobile club of the Southern Association. He contracted a sore arm shortly after the season opened and was ditched. "He wandered from Mobile to New Mexico, where he enrolled in the Copper League. One afternoon in El Paso he struck out 19 men In winning a 12inning game. That night he was grabbed by a scout for the Tulsa Oilers. "Lefty spent two years at Tulsa. In 1925 he pitched in 54 games for the Oilers, winning 19 while losing 14, and so was purchased by the St. Louis Browns. Somehow or other, the Browns didn't give their rookie southpaw much of a tumble. "They sent him to Buffalo for a couple of months in 1926, then recalled him to ship down to Tulsa again. In 1927, St. Louis took him to camp, didn't use him In any of the exhibition games and once more turned him back to Tulsa. "Finally, in 1928, Bolen escaped the clutches of the Browns when they released him outright to Baltimore in a deal for Johnny Ogden. With the Orioles, Bolen applied himself to the task of working his way back to the majors. "Tawny of mane, heavily set, Bolen informed the Oriole management that he liked plenty of work. He looked it, so the Orioles used him in 50 games in '28. He turned in 21 victories against 15 losses. At the end of the season he was bought by the Mackmen (Athletics). "Bolen worked hard in the Mack camp of 1929. He displayed a fine fastball and a sharp-breaking curve that made quite an impression: nevertheless, the Athletics turned him back to the Orioles. So it was down to the minors again for the burly southpaw. "Discouraged perhaps, but undaunted, Lefty went back to Baltimore, won 19 and lost 14 in 1929 and following it last season with a still better record is now coming up for his fourth trial in fast company. The second story about Lefty was written by sportswriter Tom Shriver in March of 1931 when the Phillies were in spring training camp at Winter Haven, Fla. WINTER HAVEN, March 9,-Stewart "Lefty" Bolen learned to pitch winning ball because he did not like the taste of beer. And thereby hangs one of the strangest tales that has ever been told by a baseball player. "'When I first broke into baseball,'" declared the new southpaw star of the Phillies, 'I got a job pitching for the Fort Bayard team, out in New Mexico. We were in what they called the Copper League and, believe me, it was a fast league. "'But the real fun came after the season closed,' added Lefty with his characteristic Southern drawl. 'Some of us got together and formed a team to tour Mexico. I was one of the pitchers selected for the trip. "'If we won, the Mexicans said nothing, but if they won they furnished free beer for everybody and insisted on us joining the parties,' continued Bolen. "'Frankly it was terrible beer, and I always worked my head off to win, so that we would not have to drink that stuff,' explained the pride of Jackson, Ala. 'In fact, I have never learned to like beer in later years. I can always taste that stuff the Mexicans gave us when they won a ball game.' "In one game Bolen was forced to work overtime to escape the beer. The battle went 12 innings, and Lefty struck out 19 Mexicans before he was declared the winner. "A scout from the Tulsa club of the Western League saw this fray, and that night signed Stewart O'Neal Bolen to a new contract. "For two years Lefty labored in Tulsa, and soon proved himself a glutton for punishment. During one season he worked in exactly 54 games, winning 19 and losing 14, which was good enough to warrant getting him a tryout with the St. Louis Browns. They sent him to Buffalo, and later recalled him, and he hired back to Tulsa. "The Browns recalled him the next year, and in a trade with Baltimore he became an Oriole, and Johnny Ogden donned the garb of the Browns. With Baltimore, Bolen did even better than at Tulsa. In 1928 he turned in 21 victories, in '29 he had 19, and last year he had 19 more triumphs under his belt. "'Winning 19 games last year was easy,' declared Lefty. 'Why I was out six weeks with a bum arm, and had to have my tonsils removed before the old wing got back in shape. But now I am just raring to go, and when it gets a bit warmer I aim to show the boys a few tricks.' "Bolen has a quaint delivery. He stands on the hill and fixes his eye on one particular spot. It is right at the center of the plate. "Then he cuts loose, and the ball leaves his arm with a quick motion, and heads for that spot. The next pitch is a duplicate of the first, and every succeeding pitch is a replica of the others. "It was Burt Shotten who called our attention to Lefty's pitching form. "Just watch that boy when he delivers a ball," said Burt. "You watch and see that he puts his foot in the same spot every time, swings his arm in the same way and always pitches for the same spot. That boy will have control, if nothing else, or I miss my guess. "A left-hander with control is always an asset, so it looks like a good year for Mr. Bolen. If he can win his 19 games this year he will be hailed as the hero by the fans who gather at Broad and Huntingdon Sts. Lefty says he is out to make it 21 victories. "'I have won 59 games in the last three years. If I get 21 more this year it will give me a record of 80 in four, or an average of 20 per year. If my arm is right, I do not see what is to prevent me from getting the 21,' said Lefty, with no attempt to seem a bit cocky or conceited. "Figure out for yourself what 21 victories would mean to Burt Shotton's Once lowly Phillies. Everybody in camp is hopeful that Lefty achieves his ambition." Unfortunately, Lefty did not achieve his goal of 21 wins in 1931, turning in a record of 3 wins and 12 losses, but that proved to be one of his worst years. Starting with Tulsa in 1924 and finishing with Chattanooga in 1939, Lefty pitched in 371 games, winning 195 and losing 176. His overall winning percentage was .526. In 1939, at the age of 37, and a professional career that spanned 16 years, Lefty retired from baseball and returned to his home in Jackson. Lefty began his second career In law enforcement when he became town marshal for the city of Jackson in 1942 and, in 1947, when a police department was set up he became the first chief of police. He served in that capacity until he retired in October of 1965 after suffering a stroke at his camp on the Tombigbee River. An avid sports fan, Lefty never lost his enthusiasm for baseball, enjoyed fishing and hunting, and in his later years took up playing golf and participated in several tournaments for left-handed players. Stewart O'Neal "Lefty" Bolen died on Aug. 30, 1969 from complications of the stroke he had suffered four years earlier.
He truly lived his life's dream and I doubt that he would have changed anything, even if he could, except maybe winning those 21 games in 1931.
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